Waiting for Her
by Blueberrychills94
Summary: When Katniss breaks up with her long-term boyfriend, Peeta, she thinks that it's over forever. She tries to move on, prove she can live without him, by immediately dating someone else. What she doesn't plan on is for Peeta to start a protest against their break up in the strangest of fashions. Peeta is determined to prove his devotion. Katniss is stubborn. Is love salvageable?


Waiting for Her

By Blueberrychils94

 _Back to that corner, where I first saw you . . . I'll camp in my sleeping bag, I'm not going to move . . ._

 _~The Script, Not Moving_

It's quite surprising actually. How two people can go from being inseparable to being as far apart as two people can physically be. That's how it felt when Katniss and Peeta broke up. They'd been High School sweethearts; met in Freshman year and stayed together onwards. They were always seen together, one always hanging onto the others' arm, listening to every word they said as if they were the new Ghandi, speaking words of wisdom and interest. It was a common consensus that they would remain together for the remainder of their lives. They were even voted, 'Cutest Couple' in Senior Year, earning them a picture in the Yearbook.

Nobody could have predicted that three months later they'd be broken up.

Katniss allegedly left Peeta for another man. Gale Hawthorne had been working on her for weeks, building a divide between her and her boyfriend and causing tension between them. Katniss spent more time with Gale, Peeta got worried and jealous, it turned into an argument one rainy October night which resulted in their separation.

Peeta had been regretting it ever since he stormed out of Katniss' house that night. However, he did leave with a promise.

" _I'm going to prove to you how much you mean to me."_

Katniss hadn't believed it. She had thought it was over. It killed her to think about. In fact, she didn't. She simply threw herself at Gale as soon as Peeta left, even though it was his fault they had fought in the first place. That was how her new relationship started and the rumours starting going around, saying that she had left Peeta for Gale. It didn't take long for her to forget about Peeta's promise. She had believed that he had forgotten it to.

Except he didn't.

~xXx~

 **November 21** **st**

 **One month after the separation**

"Is Gale going to be home tonight?"

Katniss sighed and shook her head. The cucumbers on her eyes were cool against her lids and soothed the tense nerves in her brain caused by fitful nights. "No, he's not. He's got to work," she admitted. "It's fine. I should probably get some work done tonight anyway. I've been putting it off."

"Well, you know what they say, a man who can't come home is a man who can't commit . . ." Madge said.

Katniss lifted a cucumber off one eye and squinted at her friend. Madge sat her feet, acting like she hadn't said anything at all. Rolling her eyes, Katniss let the cucumber fall onto her eye again and laid back. It had taken a lot for Madge to convince Katniss to allow her to practice some of her beauty therapy techniques on her but Katniss was glad that she allowed her to. She hadn't realized how stressed she had been lately until now.

"Look, Madge, I know you don't like Gale"-

"No, it's not that I don't like him," Madge interrupted. "I hate him. He had no business sticking his nose in where it didn't belong."

"Okay, Madge, we've had this conversation a thousand times before," Katniss said.

"Yeah, and you've brushed me off every single time," said Madge. She shook her head. "It doesn't matter anymore. You're going to do what you want anyway. I just don't want to see you hurt again."

"Gale won't hurt me."

"You say that but you can't know."

Katniss let the topic drop. Gale wasn't going to hurt her. He was just very busy all the time. When he wasn't working, he wanted to be out with his friends, she understood that. She spent quite a bit of time with Madge herself, anyway. It wasn't like they were avoiding each other until night time when they climbed into bed together and 'made love'. Katniss didn't know why she called it that. She didn't feel anything when she was with Gale. Sometimes she even questioned why she was with him.

Madge resumed painting Katniss' toenails. Okay, so things had been tense between them over the past month as well. Ever since Katniss had started dating Gale, Madge had made it perfectly clear that she wasn't happy with it. Katniss had never had to deal with her best friend being unhappy with her relationships before. Well, her relationship history wasn't very long anyway but . . . Madge had still liked her past boyfriends! Well . . . boy _friend._ Katniss wasn't well versed with dealing with this sort of situation.

"Katniss, isn't that your ex?" The owner of the beauty parlour, Glimmer, asked.

Katniss couldn't help it. Her heart lurched into her throat and she bolted upright in the seat, cucumbers falling off her eyes and onto her lap. "Where?" she asked.

Glimmer pointed out the window, to the bus stop across the road. When Katniss followed her gaze, her breath hitched in her throat. It was her ex. She hadn't seen him since he left. Her heart began to flutter in her chest. He looked exactly the same. Not that she had expected the month to have changed him that much but seeing him there, so close and yet feeling so far, was a bit surreal for Katniss. She could barely comprehend it.

"It is," Madge confirmed, also staring out the window at Katniss' ex.

"I'm just going to come out and say it," Glimmer said, holding her hands up in defence, "that guy is hot as hell and you are a crazy woman for choosing Gale I-don't-shave-my-stubble Hawthorne over _that._ "

Katniss wasn't listening. She was watching Peeta intently. He had a big backpack sitting by his feet. Was he going somewhere? Was he leaving Panem City? Her heart was beating impossibly fast now, so fast it was making her feel nauseous. Where could he possibly go?

Damn him for looking the same. Damn him for still having his head of luscious blond hair. Damn him for still having that soft yet sharply cut jawline of his. Damn him for still having those soft, pink lips that she used to kiss. Damn him for leaning against the back of that bus stop without a care in the world, sketching something into his sketchpad. Oh, his sketchpad! Katniss felt a tug of nostalgia as memories flooded her mind of posing for drawings for him. She wondered if he still had some of the . . . less tasteful ones . . .

"I wonder how he's doing," said Madge. She put the nail polish down and stood up.

Katniss grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?!" she exclaimed.

"I'm going to say hi," Madge replied.

"You can't do that!" Katniss exclaimed.

"Why not?! _I_ wasn't the one who broke up with him!"

"You can't just go over to him and talk as if everything's normal!" Katniss insisted.

Madge rolled her eyes but sat back down. "Okay, the only person making it awkward is you," she said. "And you know why that is? Because you're too busy worrying about what Peeta will think of you dating Gale. He probably already knows, you know!"

Katniss shook her head. "I don't doubt he does because some idiot spread around that I left him for Gale. I'm sure he hates me by this point!"

"If you think that Peeta hates you, Katniss, then you obviously didn't know him as well as you claim," Madge said, picking her bottle of polish back up and sniffing indignantly. "After five years of dating, I'd like to think that that isn't true."

Of course it wasn't. Five years was a long time. Katniss knew the boy across the road better than she knew herself. What ticked him off; what he loved; his hobbies; interests; turn ons; turn offs . . . Katniss could pick Peeta out of a crowd of thousands, even if they all had blond hair. It was hard going from that to nothing and she was still adjusting to not being with him nearly every day. She had thought that Gale would fill the hole Peeta left behind. All Gale did was make the hole seem bigger because he was never around.

"Doesn't matter," Glimmer said, "the bus is coming."

Katniss tried to seem disinterested but still glanced in the general direction of the bus stop. The bus blocked her view of Peeta. Her heart slowed down a little and she gripped the arm rests on her seat with silent fear. When the bus departed, the three girls were surprised to see Peeta still leaning against the back of the bus stop, still sketching in his pad. "What the heck?!" Glimmer blurted out first.

"He must be getting another bus," Katniss said, having to force herself to stop smiling.

"There's only the one bus that runs through the city," Madge frowned.

Katniss knew that Madge was right but . . . what other explanation was there? It was either that or . . . he missed it maybe? Too focused on his drawing to notice? That would make sense. Katniss remembered how into it he could get. He would lose himself in his work, in making every pencil stroke as perfect as he possibly could, that his surroundings would become irrelevant.

When Katniss looked back at Madge, she saw her friend smirking at her. "What?" Katniss asked.

"You're smiling," Madge said, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"What? No, I'm not," said Katniss.

Madge rolls her eyes but the smile on her own face is unmistakeable. "Whatever," she grinned.

 **A day later**

As Katniss stared at the television screen, she remembered everything.

That bus stop. Of course. How could she have forgotten?

Crowded bus stop. Rainy Thursday afternoon. Clutching satchels with cold fingers while also trying to keep blazers tugged close around bodies. Being jostled around because everyone had somewhere to be but they were also trying to hide underneath the shelter of the stop to avoid being splattered by the water. How Marvel Winters had rudely pushed her out from under the bus stop and into the rain so he could check his notifications on his phone without it getting wet. How an umbrella had been handed to her by someone behind her. And when she turned around, she had been met with a beautiful sight . . .

That bus stop was where they had first met.

Katniss gulped.

" _A local boy has begun an individual protest at the District 12 bus stop on Merchant Street in Panem Village. Peeta Mellark, aged nineteen, took residence at the bus stop early this morning and has claimed that he won't move until his girlfriend, Katniss Everdeen, sees how much he cares,"_ The news reporter read.

Katniss couldn't believe it. She had convinced herself that it was a different Peeta; that it couldn't have been him; that surely there was another couple with the names of Katniss and Peeta in the city somewhere and they had recently broken up too and . . . and . . . But then she saw the footage.

Peeta wasn't in it for the publicity. He didn't even give the cameras a second glance. He just kept sketching, as he had done earlier in the day when Katniss, Madge and Glimmer had seen him. He must have spoken at some point or contacted the press in some way for this to be covered but from the way he was acting, it didn't seem so.

" _Upon Peeta's request, we were informed of this by his friend Delly Cartwright, who has been assisting him in this escapade for as long as it may take for Mrs Everdeen to see 'how much he cares'."_

Katniss switched the television off and threw her remote onto the sofa. Oh god, was this really happening? She walked around the sofa and into the kitchen, wondering if maybe she had dreamed the whole news report and in reality, Peeta had just missed his bus earlier and had to wait for the next one. He couldn't be possibly waiting for her to give him another chance . . . right? No. Not to give him another chance.

To understand how much he cared about her.

Katniss decided to get started on dinner to take her mind off of the situation.

Her apartment wasn't bad. In fact, it was quite exorbitant. Gale didn't go on to further education after High School but he did secure a good job at his family's business, so money was never an issue. Katniss was free to continue her studies at Capitol University. She majored in Science; mainly Biology. She wasn't completely sure what she was going to do with it yet but her life was still a work in progress.

The apartment which she shared with Gale was comfortable. It had everything a person needed to get by and then some but . . . Katniss didn't feel at home. She still felt like a roommate or a guest. She didn't feel like she could eat the food or use the bathroom without asking Gale's permission first. Which was crazy because he had told her on numerous occasions that she did _not_ need to ask permission.

Katniss had just put her lasagne into the oven when the phone rang. She didn't even have a chance to say hello before Madge was talking. "Did you see the news? Can you believe it? Do you think he's really going to stay at that bus stop all night? What if he gets mugged? You have to tell him you see how much he cares, Katniss!"

"Err . . . I don't think he's going to stay out all night," Katniss said flatly. "He's always had a flare for the dramatic. I'm sure he'll mooch off back to his little Merchant Home as soon as it gets dark and come back at dawn for the cameras."

"Katniss," Madge said seriously, "you don't honestly think he's doing it for the cameras?"

Of course he wasn't! But Katniss didn't want to have this conversation with her friend who had been on her ex's side ever since their break up occurred. "Madge, I don't want to talk about this," Katniss sighed.

"Oooooh," Madge replied. "Is Gale there?"

"No, he's not home yet," Katniss sighed.

She could practically feel Madge roll her eyes on the other side of the line.

"Do you want me to come over?" her friend asked.

"No, it's fine. He's coming home, he told me he would," Katniss insisted. She grabbed her satchel from the hallway and sat at the kitchen islet. "I'm going to do my homework, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright," Madge practically sang. "And we'll see if Loverboy is still at the stop!"

"Goodbye, Madge," Katniss said flatly.

"Byeeeeee!"

Katniss worked on some of her coursework until she had to take the lasagne out of the oven. She glanced at the clock. Seven o'clock. Okay, so she was a little early. She could let it cool and wait for Gale to come. He told her he'd be back by half past. She continued working.

7:00

7:30

8:00

8:30

9:00

Katniss slammed her pen against her book and ran her fingers through her hair. Letting out a pent up groan of frustration, she snatched her mobile and scrolled through her texts. Nothing new. Not even an 'I'm going to be a little late, don't wait up'. Katniss practically fired her mobile across the islet. Urgh, why did he always have to do this? What was wrong with letting her know, at the very least, that he wasn't going to show up?

So she had her dinner and went to bed without him, for what felt like the thousandth night. Katniss always gave herself an hour before turning in to catch up on her reading. Since she'd started University she hadn't had time to read as much as she had done in High School. So she always gave herself some time to catch up. She was a sucker for young adult novels, even though she was nearly twenty years old.

She had read five chapters of The 5th Wave before Gale finally decided to show his face. When she checked her watch, it said 11:45. Typical. Four hours late. Katniss rolled her eyes and shut her book, leaving her reading glasses on as Gale entered the room. He wasn't drunk but that just made it worse. If he had been drinking, then maybe he would have had some sustainable excuse for being late and not telling her.

"Sorry babe, Thom was holding a pup quiz and I couldn't say no to him because it's for charity or whatever," Gale explained as he went into the en suite without even giving Katniss a second glance.

"You could have texted me," Katniss said pointedly.

"No signal," Gale was quick to answer with.

There was a terse silence between them after that. Katniss pulled her glasses off her face and rubbed her eyes tiredly. Sometimes she wondered if she had gone too fast with Gale. If Madge was right and that she'd just moved in with him quickly because she was feeling lonely after the break up . . .

"That guy you used to date was at the District 12 bus stop when we were passing," Gale said, his voice bouncing off the bathroom walls and creating an echo. Katniss stiffened. "I thought all the buses stopped coming at eight or something . . ."

"What time did you see him?" Katniss asked.

"Like half ten."

Katniss' heart did something extremely odd. It flipped in her chest. It hadn't done that since she . . . since she had been with Peeta. Katniss brushed her hair back from her face and sank into the bed. She didn't know what to say. Half ten. The sun had set long ago and night had set in. Panem City wasn't at all warm at night. Suddenly the concerns Madge had raised were beginning to worry Katniss. What if Peeta got mugged? Got hypothermia? Frostbite? Was he _mad?_ What was he honestly playing at?

"I always thought that guy was odd . . . He had a sleeping bag and everything," Gale explained as he returned. "Who camps at a bus stop of all places?"

Katniss scowled at her pillow and threw her book onto the bedside table. "I'm tired, I'm going to sleep," she said.

"I'm guessing that means no . . .?" When Katniss looked over her shoulder, Gale was wiggling his eyebrows ridiculously.

"Yes," she deadpanned, throwing the quilt over her head and plunging herself into darkness.

Her mind immediately went to Peeta. Sitting on his own at that bus stop in the cold. It was November, after all. Was he really willing to risk his own health just to prove a point? For a moment, Katniss was filled with anger at Peeta's stubbornness. This was swiftly replaced with exhaustion and she sighed weakly, letting her eyes flutter closed.

That night she dreamt of bus stops and rain. And, even with Gale sleeping beside her, she never felt so alone.

 **The next day**

Katniss didn't have to go into school the next day. Gale had left when she was still sleeping so she sat in her apartment on her own, simply staring at the four walls surrounding her. It hadn't taken her long to finish off her coursework. Her phone was clogged up with texts and calls in regards to what people had seen on the news. She ignored them all, except for those that were from Madge or her family.

Without really thinking, Katniss stood up and headed to the door. She grabbed her keys from the bowl by the door and left. She had to know. She had to know why he was doing this. Why now? Why was he opening fresh wounds for her? Didn't he know how hard the breakup had been on her? Why couldn't he understand that she just wanted it all to be left alone?

The walk was surprisingly short. Katniss supposed that she could be fast when she was annoyed. She just had to ask him. They hadn't spoken since that night and she felt sick the closer she got to Glimmer's Beauty Parlour. What if there were cameras there? She didn't want this conversation to be broadcast. She just wanted to speak to Peeta privately.

When she reached the Beauty Parlour, Katniss stopped. There were no cameras. No reporters. No press. Just Peeta.

"What are you doing?" The words were out of her mouth before she fully processed them in her mind.

Peeta's head snapped up from his sketchpad and, when he saw her standing across the road, the biggest smile broke out across his face. Katniss hated how happy it made her to see him smiling again. After that night, all she could see in her mind when she thought of him was how he had cried and begged her to understand. How frantic and desperate and upset she had made him, just because she couldn't handle how defensive he was being over Gale. How he'd apologized over and over again but she wouldn't listen to him.

"Proving how much I care," Peeta answered. His voice made Katniss feel weak at the knees. How could he still do this to her after a month's separation? Surely, Gale's voice should be the voice that felt like a sucker punch to Katniss' heart, not Peeta's.

"By putting yourself at risk?" Katniss asked, banishing all emotion from her voice.

"I'm not putting myself at risk," Peeta smiled. "I'm simply making a small, informal protest to a great injustice that has befallen me."

"Our breakup," Katniss stated flatly.

Peeta nodded, azure eyes sparkling like crystal pools of pure, unaltered beauty.

"It's been a month," Katniss said.

"I know. Something like this doesn't take three seconds to plan," Peeta answered. He shrugged. "I'm sorry it took so long but I had quite a bit to organize."

Katniss folded her arms across her chest, so Peeta couldn't see how her heart was fluttering in her chest. "Why are you doing this?" she asked.

Peeta's eyes flickered to his feet solemnly. "Because there hasn't been a day that has gone by where I haven't regretted that night," he said. "We didn't talk through our issues enough before we . . . you . . . decided it was over."

"I think it was obvious that we were growing apart," Katniss said indignantly, she too looking at her shoes.

"I think it was obvious that Gale Hawthorne wedged himself in where he wasn't welcome," Peeta corrected.

Katniss scowled at the ground. "You were the one who got jealous of him!" she snapped.

"And was I wrong to? You did immediately go to him when we broke up!" Peeta reminded her.

"Do you really want to get into this with me? Here? In the middle of the street?!" Katniss exclaimed, lifting her head to stare at him again.

Peeta quirked an eyebrow. Katniss tightened her jaw, trying to ignore how sexy he was when he did that. "Well, I'm not moving until you understand how much I care about you. How much I did when we broke up and how much I will continue to care in the future," he said. "I will not move from here."

"You're full of it," Katniss concluded. "What about the bathroom? What do you do then?"

"Delly's father is dropping a portable loo off later. Did you forget that he delivered them to construction sites?" Peeta asked.

Katniss scoffed. "Oh my god, you're actually serious!" she exclaimed.

"Well, I know I can be good at many things but sadly I am not good enough to go days without using the bathroom," Peeta grinned.

Katniss huffed, blowing her fringe from her eyes in the process. "What do you mean we didn't talk through our issues enough?" she muttered. It was ridiculous that they were talking about it like this. Standing on either side of the road like they were too afraid to be too close to each other. Almost as if . . . as if they got a certain distance within each other's vicinity then they'd snap together like magnets.

"We were together every day for five years, Katniss," Peeta said seriously. "And yet everything we had ended in five minutes."

"Life's like that sometimes," Katniss said harshly.

Peeta was grinning again, like her anger amused him. "Not in my life," he said firmly. "Not if I can do something about it."

"And you think camping at a bus stop is the answer?" Katniss asked, completely unconvinced.

"You and I both know that this isn't just any old bus stop," Peeta answered.

Katniss' stomach lurched. She put her hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you do," said Peeta.

"You're crazy!" Katniss snapped. "Fine, stay here for all I care! Freeze to the bone if that's what it's going to take for you to realize that I've moved on! You're going to lose another limb if you're not careful!"

Peeta laughed. He had never been shy of the fact that he'd lost his leg when he'd developed Gangrene in a wound he'd gotten during a soccer game and actually found it very amusing when it was brought into arguments. When he and Katniss fought while they were dating, she would sometimes shout stuff like 'Peg-leg Peeta' or 'Stumpy Steven' when things got really heated. He didn't care, because he knew once things calmed down Katniss would remember everything she said and would apologize profusely for it.

"You've pulled some pretty ridiculous stunts, Peeta Mellark, but this takes the bloody cake!" Katniss ranted. "You're a reckless, love sick puppy and you need to pull yourself together and grow up!"

"But growing up is no fun," Peeta answered, still smirking.

"Stop grinning you . . . you . .. smug idiot!" Katniss exclaimed.

Peeta spluttered, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. He pulled a face, pretending to act scolded, and nodded. "Yes, mom," he said.

"What are you going to do if I never see how much you care?" Katniss demanded.

Peeta looked around the small bus shelter and sighed. "I guess I've a new home," he said.

Katniss wanted to scream with frustration. "Why are you being so difficult?" she insisted. "Can't you see that I've moved on?"

Peeta shook his head. "You haven't moved on," he stated.

"Oh yeah? What makes you say that?" Katniss snapped.

What he said next wasn't an attempt to be spiteful or vindictive. In fact, he sounded extremely resigned to it. "Because if you had, you wouldn't be here now."

~xXx~

Katniss went to visit her mother and sister. They lived a little out of the way of Panem City, in the country. They lived in the sort of house you'd imagine in a picture book. With honeysuckle growing along the walls, flowers in hanging baskets, bright blue door with the number _74_ carefully painted onto it. Peeta had done the painting for them. Even here, at her old home, Katniss had memories of him.

She let herself in with her key and followed the sound of the television to the living room, where her mother and sister sat watching _The Chase._ "Hi guys," she sighed, throwing herself onto the sofa beside Primrose.

"Busy day?" her mother asked.

"You could say that," Katniss answered.

Prim grinned and jabbed Katniss' arm with her elbow. "Did you go see Peeta?" she asked, her voice teasing.

Katniss rolled her eyes. "Yes."

"How is he?" her mother asked.

"I didn't exactly get a chance to ask him over all the noise about our relationship," Katniss said sarcastically. "But if you must know I'd probably say very cold with a desperate urge to pee."

"Are you going to take him back?" Primrose asked excitedly.

"He's not asking for me to take him back," Katniss answered. "He wants . . . he wants me to see how much he cares about me. Which I don't really care about myself, if I'm honest." She folded her arms and focused her eyes on the television, hoping she was convincing with her finality.

"You're an awful liar, Katniss," her mother came out of the blue and said.

Katniss grimaced. "I'm telling the truth!" she insisted.

"Mmhm," Primrose hummed sarcastically.

"Oh my god, I thought you two, of all people, would understand!" Katniss exclaimed.

Primrose played with the hair at the end of her plait, trying to make a miniature braid with the stray hairs. "You were so upset when you broke up with him," her sister mumbled. "I know I never believed that you guys were truly split."

"I kind of predicted that Peeta would try something like this," their mother added. "He always was extremely stubborn about these things. It's one of the reasons you two got along so well. You were different but . . . so similar at the same time."

"Yeah, stubborn as a mule," Primrose sniggered.

Katniss glared at her sister out of the corner of her eye.

"Did you both speak rationally?" Mrs Everdeen asked. "Or did you act your usual stubborn self while he grinned and teased you?"

"I'm sorry but are we that predictable?" Katniss asked incredulously.

Mrs Everdeen grinned knowingly. "I know my children very well," she said.

Prim frowned. "Peeta isn't your kid," she said.

"He was by Katniss' side for five years," Mrs Everdeen corrected. "I grew to believe that he may have been my son in law."

Katniss inhaled her own spit and choked on it. Prim burst out laughing, throwing her plait over her shoulder. "Can't say that about Gale!" the younger Everdeen cackled.

"Okay, what's up with the Gale bashing? I mean he isn't that bad!" Katniss said. "Peeta isn't exactly the peak of angelic values! He's not perfect like everyone makes out! I wish you all would stop acting like his socks don't stink!"

Prim was laughing so hard she had to hold her side with her hands. Mrs Everdeen tried to look serious but her amusement was unmistakable.

"Katniss, we know that he isn't perfect," her mother said. "Nobody is. However, Peeta's bad points have always been outweighed by his good points. You yourself have said this before. With Gale, well, it doesn't seem like that. You're always talking about how he comes home late without telling you; is making fun of your glasses; putting down your cooking"-

"I mean, you suck at cooking but at least Peeta stomached it," Prim grinned. "And it was probably painful for him, as a baker himself."

Katniss knew that her mother and sister were both right. However, it was too late. It had to be. Maybe if they'd raised their voices earlier, before she took comfort with Gale, she may have listened. Why is everyone just voicing their opinions now? Why couldn't her mother and Primrose and Peeta have protested against the split a day after the break up? Or even a week after?

"I don't need to hear this," Katniss declared. She practically jumped up off the sofa and stormed for the door.

"Wait!" Prim blurted out.

"What?!" Katniss exclaimed, spinning around at the doorway.

"Look!" Prim said, pointing the remote at the television and turning the sound up.

Katniss looked at the screen. Her stomach flipped at yet another news report being ran about Peeta's quest. From the time she had left and had been at her mother's house, Delly's father had deposited the porta-loo a little aways from the bus stop. So he was serious about that after all. Katniss chewed on her thumb nail, listening to the reporter saying basically the exact same thing she had heard the previous night.

"He's going to get the flu," Prim said.

"I told him that, he doesn't care," Katniss replied through her thumb.

"Can't you just say you know what he's trying to do to save him the agony?" asked Prim.

Katniss opened her mouth, about to say that maybe she would just to end all the drama. Then she glanced back at the T.V. screen and was reminded of how stubborn Peeta had been during their conversation earlier. She scowled. No. Maybe his suffering would be the knock in the head that he needed. She was with Gale now. He had to see that.

"Let him find out for himself," Katniss muttered.

She left without another word.

 _ **3 weeks later:**_

"Oh, Peeta," Katniss sighed.

Gale was late home again and Katniss sat staring at the television, watching a news update. They had been doing updates on Peeta's story every other day, checking up to see if he was still there or not. He was. After three weeks, twenty one days, he sat alone at that bus stop. The bus stop was frozen for service, meaning that the bus just passed by it to allow Peeta to protest in peace.

Every time Katniss saw him sitting there-which was every night for the past three weeks-her stomach knotted up horribly. She wished he would just give up. He was going to give himself pneumonia! Ever since he'd lost his leg, his immune system was shot. He knew this! Was he trying to put her on edge?!

Wait. Why was she even on edge? She shouldn't care about him! She should be wondering about where Gale was!

Katniss snatched her phone off the coffee table and dialled Gale's number. A miracle occurred and he actually answered. On the tenth ring. He still answered nonetheless. "Hellooo, Katniss!" Gale's voice crackled.

"Gale, what the hell, your line is shit," Katniss frowned. "Where are you?"

"I'm on a boat," Gale answered.

Katniss' heart dropped. "What?!" she shouted. "Why the hell are you on a bloody boat?!"

"About that," Gale said, "I won't be home for the next week."

"Why?!" Katniss yelled.

"I'm going to Scotland."

Fury built up inside of Katniss and spilled out of her like boiling water in a pot. "Fine, Gale. Go to Scotland. Drink, have a laugh, I don't care anymore. Just don't expect me to be here when you come back!" Katniss screamed.

"You won't leave," Gale laughed.

"Try me!" Katniss roared back. She hung up the phone and threw her phone across the room. She should have done this long ago. She'd just have to go to her mother's house. Her room should still be empty from when she moved out. She had done all this too fast. Everyone had tried to tell her to slow down but she didn't listen. Well, screw Gale. Screw him and his apartment. She didn't need him.

Katniss packed her things up, leaving stuff in boxes to collect in the morning. She dragged her suitcases out of the apartment and slammed the door behind her, even though there was no one there to hear it.

Her feet didn't take her in the direction of mother's house. She had been planning to go home, to cry on her mother's shoulder and drink hot chocolate with Primrose. Admit the whole time that she had been wrong not to listen to them and that they were right about everything. Gale had pushed her to her limit and she couldn't take it anymore.

Except instead of going to her mother's house, she went to the bus stop.

Peeta was sitting there, as he had been for the past three weeks, with his lower half swallowed up in a sleeping bag. He was still drawing. It seemed to be all he did while he was at the bus stop. Forever drawing.

"Room for another one?" Katniss sighed.

Peeta looked up from his pad. He smiled and nodded. "Sure," he said.

Katniss dumped her bags beside Peeta's and sat down beside him. Peeta pulled a blanket out from underneath him and threw it over her shoulders. "Thanks," she mumbled, holding both edges in one hand. Her heart had started beating rapidly at being in such close proximity to him again. It had felt like forever since she had sat so close to him. The damn blanket even smelled like him!

"What happened?" asked Peeta.

A part of Katniss had wanted him to be spiteful. To tease her or point out how he had told her that Gale was trouble. She knew he wouldn't, though. Peeta wasn't that sort of person. "Gale went off to Scotland without telling me," she muttered despondently.

Peeta didn't say 'I told you so' or 'You should have listened to me'. Instead, he simply sighed and shook his head. "What are you going to do now?" he asked her.

"Go home," Katniss shrugged. "Back to mum's house. Focus on my studies. Don't get tangled up with men like him again."

"Are you going to go through one of those 'strong independent woman who don't need no man' phases?" Peeta grinned.

"Maybe," Katniss laughed. Her fingers tightened around the blanket, turning numb from the cold already. "How have you stayed out here for so long? How haven't you caught your death?" she asked.

"The sleeping bag is thermal," Peeta answered. "So I'm okay. Although, my bad leg is a bit stiff from sitting around all day."

Katniss chewed on the inside of her cheek. "About that," she began, "I'm sorry about what I said. About losing limbs and stuff. It was insensitive of me."

"Katniss, you don't have to apologize. You've said much worse over much less and have apologized every single time," said Peeta. "Besides, I kind of deserve it. I never thought about the pressure I might have been putting on you by doing this. I just . . . wanted to grab your attention again. I thought you'd forgotten about me."

Katniss snorted. Forget about Peeta? Was that even possible? "You could have just spoken to me," she told him.

"You have no idea about the effect you can have," Peeta contradicted. "Every time I see you it's like being . . . well . . . here. When I met you for the first time. It was okay when we were dating; I knew it was a mutual feeling then. Over the past month though? No. I didn't have the courage."

"Why's that?" asked Katniss.

Peeta shrugged. "I'm terrified of the idea of you being happy without me."

Katniss felt like she had been punched in the gut. She hadn't realized until now that she had been afraid of the exact same thing. That was why she clung to Gale for so long; that was why she didn't listen to anyone; that was why Madge, Primrose and even her own mother's opinions didn't matter to her. She was petrified of running into Peeta and finding out that he didn't need her to be happy. That there had been no point in her being in his life.

She needed Peeta just as much as he needed her.

Katniss moved closer to Peeta and put her head on his shoulder. Peeta wound his arm around her shoulders, enveloping her in his warmth. The smell of cinnamon and musk filled her senses and she almost cried at how familiar it was to her.

She finally felt at home again.

 **A/N: I'm enjoying writing these one shots, they're quite fun to come up with! Let me know if you want more Everlark one shots and I'll do another one as soon as I can.**

 **Let me know what you think of this one as well! ^_^**


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